Chupi: Dazzling Jewelry, Ethically Sourced, and IP Protected

Founded in 2013 by Chupi Sweetman, CHUPI is one of Ireland’s most beloved fine jewelry brands, renowned for its handcrafted engagement and wedding rings made from recycled gold and ethically sourced diamonds. With a mission to create “future heirlooms,” Chupi has built a brand identity rooted in storytelling, sustainability, and emotional resonance.

We spoke to Chupi Sweetman about her journey and the importance of brand protection to the growth of her business.

Brand Conception

After a successful career in the fast fashion world, Chupi Sweetman left it all behind to focus on building her own business where she could create meaningful pieces that would last and could be passed on to the next generation.

Chupi recognized early on that she needed to create a unique and engaging brand identity for her new business. As the project was deeply personal to her, it felt appropriate that she would use her own name, but she also took great care in thinking about the message she wanted her brand and her pieces to convey. Femininity, power, and joy were the key elements of the brand concept that she decided upon, and they remain central to the CHUPI brand today.

Chupi remembers attending a workshop on brand conception in the early days of her business journey. She learned a standout statement from that workshop that has shaped her approach to branding ever since. That was, “if you turn the thing upside down, remove the words, remove the logos, will people still know it is your brand?”

“I knew what I had to do very early on. I made a very conscious choice as we developed the brand that every single piece contained a physical and visual touchpoint that was very clearly ”us,” so that if we removed even the logo, every piece would be, at its very core, CHUPI. “Choice of color was an important part of this,” Chupi said.

With that statement in mind, Chupi and her team worked to create a unique aesthetic that would make her pieces and her packaging instantly recognizable. Plush, pale pink ring boxes, twig-like ring bands, the North Star, and imperfectly perfect stones have all become synonymous with the CHUPI brand. Indeed, the brand became so recognizable that when a CHUPI sapphire engagement ring was found in the Wicklow mountains, it wasn’t long before it made its way back to CHUPI’s flagship store in Dublin. A social media campaign followed to help find the rightful owner of the piece.

Brand Protection

From the beginning, and as the brand has scaled internationally over the years, Chupi has always prioritized the legal protection of the intellectual property associated with the brand. Trademark and domain name registrations came first. Despite early action by Chupi, unforeseen challenges arose in the form of a rogue registration for chupi.com. Thankfully, through negotiation, Chupi was able to acquire that domain name.

Getting the right advice at the right time was key for Chupi, and the advice she received early on is the same advice she still passes on to young entrepreneurs: consider how your brand may grow in the future when filing registrations, both in terms of classifications and geographical scope of protection. This proved particularly apt, as CHUPI products are now sold in over 70 countries worldwide.

While acknowledging that imitation is sometimes considered the highest form of flattery, Chupi has learned that robust IP protection helps brand owners preserve the core value of their brand. Chupi’s approach to infringers differs depending on the circumstances. For example, a social media post from Chupi, comparing an original exquisite diamond claddagh ring designed for Nicola Coughlan, with a particularly low-quality copy available on a discount retail site served to remind Chupi’s followers of exactly why they choose high quality CHUPI products over cheap imitations.

Chupi’s advice is that while brand owners may not want or be able to pursue every infringer, inevitably something significant will come along that does merit further action and the security and reliability of IP protection is a welcome comfort to brand owners when that day comes.

Brand Value

Chupi Sweetman has acted as a mentor to other young entrepreneurs over the years. She has seen from her experience mentoring others how robust brand protection can make an early-stage business more appealing to investors, and how protecting key IP assets increases the value of your business.

The CHUPI brand is not just a name. It evokes luxury, ethical sourcing, and sustainability and is deeply connected to Chupi Sweetman’s personal story. CHUPI’s brand identity has been built by combining customer experience, personal touch, and unique and recognizable designs and packaging. Having registered IP rights means that products bearing the CHUPI trademark and logos have a strong badge of origin and a particular reputation. This makes it easier to demonstrate infringement and/or passing off when faced with copycat products or websites.

The CHUPI brand grew up in the age of social media, which has been instrumental in instilling its brand identity in consumers’ minds. Chupi Sweetman often appears personally in brand promotions, further reinforcing the personal, authentic feel associated with the brand. Its online community is now over 300,000 strong.

In the competitive and often imitative world of fine jewelry, brand protection is not a luxury—it is a necessity. For CHUPI, safeguarding the brand’s intellectual property from the start was essential to growing its market position, maintaining consumer trust, and securing its long-term viability.

To learn more about CHUPI, please visit their website or watch Chupi Sweetman herself explaining the brand conception process in this video.

Although every effort has been made to verify the accuracy of this article, readers are urged to check independently on matters of specific concern or interest.

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